News

College of Public Health Alumnus, Dr. Swannie Jett, is among a group of 60 airmen from the Kentucky Air National Guard who are traveling to West Africa to support an effort to fight the spread of the Ebola virus in that area. Dr. Jett, who received his DrPH from the UK College of Public Health, will work with fellow members of Louisville's 123rd Contingency Response Group to ensure that medical supplies and personnel get to the areas of the region that have been affected the most by the epidemic.

The College of Public Health welcomes Capt. Doug Thoroughman, PhD, MS for its first Grand Rounds of the semester to speak about his work combating the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. The seminar, titled “Confronting Ebola and Other Public Health Crises: Perspective from a Career Epidemiology Field Officer,” will be held on Thursday, October 23rd at 11:30 am in Room 115 of the Nursing Building.

UK College of Public Health alumnus, Dr. Daniel Saman, was recently featured on CNN’s New Day to discuss the dangerous myths and misconceptions about the Ebola virus. In his interview with the major news network, Dr. Saman spoke about the incubation period of the disease, the issues of funding in the CDC and the NIH, and the status of agency and hospital preparedness and response.

UK College of Public Health Professor and Director of the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services & Systems Research, Glen Mays, PhD, recently traveled to Canada to speak about the impact of PHSSR Research on practice. Through a week-long series of speaking appearances and discussions, Dr. Mays gained insight into what can be learned from US-Canadian comparative research on public health delivery.

UK College of Public Health researchers have joined with colleagues in the UK College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, and extension and health department personnel on a project that focuses on lowering obesity rates in Kentucky counties suffering the most from the issue. Through a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the collaborative effort was recently awarded $1.8 Million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work to implement programs that decrease obesity rates and improve the overall health of residents in six Kentucky counties. Margaret McGladrey, Dr. Katie Cardarelli, and Dr. Angie Carman from the College of Public Health will work on the project.

Four projects across the country will receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the Dissemination and Implementation Research to Improve Value (DIRECTIVE) Awards. The two-year DIRECTIVE awards will be managed by the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services & Systems Research, which is housed within the UK College of Public Health. Each award will provide up to $350,000 to support multi-state studies by Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs), investigating strategies to more effectively and efficiently deliver services that protect the public against disease and health risks.

College of Public Health Professor and Chair of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, Dr. David Mannino, was featured on the September 29th episode of KET's Health Three60 Series. The program, titled "Easing the Burden of Asthma," featured Dr. Mannino as a panelist with other experts, discussing asthma research, treatment, and education.

New research, led by Richard Kryscio, PhD, Chair of the Biostatistics Department in the College of Public Health and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at UK, indicates that self-reported memory complaints are compelling predictors of clinical memory impairment later in life. The study found that participants who reported memory changes were almost three times more likely to develop thinking and memory problems in later years.

The National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services and Systems Research (PHSSR), which is based in the UK College of Public Health, was recently awarded $1.8 Million in renewed funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award will enable PHSSR to extend its research into methods for improving the economic and health impact of public health and prevention strategies across the country.

The UK College of Public Health is pleased to announce that Nancy Schoenberg, PhD, has been named Associate Dean for Research. In addition to her new role with the College, Dr. Schoenberg is the Marion Pearsall Professor in the Department of Behavioral Science in the UK College of Medicine. In her new role as Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Schoenberg will focus her efforts on supporting junior and other faculty to develop and refine research grants and other scholarly products, promoting collaborations, and enhancing the culture of scholarship.

For the Media

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As a component of Kentucky’s land grant institution, the Mission of the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky is to apply comprehensive health approaches to understand better and to help reduce the burdens and disparities of health problems on individuals, families and communities.